Higher Education for Sustainable Development: Learning Gains or Learning Losses?

Higher education likely makes significant contributions towards planetary sustainability through its research activities, but many hope that it will also have an impact via its educational roles. International accords, national strategies and institutional commitments emphasise higher education's responsibilities with respect to education for sustainability, or for sustainable development, but research is hard-pressed to identify systematic changes in the attitudes and aspirations of young people as a consequence of the current efforts of higher education. This chapter analyses the evidence for learning gains but suggests that we should be open to the possibility of learning losses. The chapter ends by exploring if teaching students the skills and dispositions to think critically, deeply and independently, better than we do at present, might not only be a better fit to the liberal traditions and abilities of higher education but also best support generations to come to decide for themselves what their contribution to sustainability could be.